Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-09-08
DESTINED TO LAST.
TIE "oLD BRICK CHURCH." IN ISLE
OF WIGHT.
The Date Of its Building Established
The Work Of Restoration
Going On.
rco,rs.popd.ncc Of tho Richmond DI.pa,ch.I

SMfTHflELD, OeptcnDtI 4, 1901.
One OF the most interesting objects
in Virginia, and one of the strongest
attractions to the feelings of curiosity,
yeneration, and religion, is better
known outside her borders than by the
great majority OF her own people. The
oldest English built house, perhaps, in
the Union, and the oldest Protestant
church in North America, stands near
the mouth of James river, in the old
shire of Isle of Wight, and is
known in these parts as "The Old
Brick Church." while its real name
is st. Luke's. The county written
records, dating back to 1921, speak of
it as "The Old Brick Church " in that
day, and two bricks that recently came
down from a parapet with the falling
roof corroborate the tradition brought
down in three prominent families con-
nected with the old church, fixing the
date of its erection at 1852. Only
twenty-five years after Captain John
Smith landed at jamestown this old
church was erected, and it bids fair to
stand many centuries more. The great
square Norman towerand massive walls
were built by strong-hearted men of
England, and built TO stand and to last
The tower is fifty feet high by nineteen
feet square at the bottom, and is thirty
two inches thick at the bottom and
eighteen inches at the top. It's almost
square. The church proper measures
62x255 feet within, the walls measuring
twenty-five inches at the foundation
and eighteen inches on top. The great
east window, composed in its lower half
of eight separate windows intwo rowsof
four each, and of fine tracery of kites,
&C., in the upper half is 18xl2 feet in
size, the top being semi-circular, while
the eight windows on the two sides OF
the church are double lancet in form
and about Sx6 feet in dimensions. The
vestibule, the first story of the great
tower, is pierced on either side with a
2x3 feet roundish window, looking
much like portfolio, and the vestry-
room, the second story, is lighted by
three Of the came fine windows that
grace the sides Of the church. Duringour
late war thisvenerable building was sadly
desecrated by both armies-a hOrrid
Fastening of that destruction which
Time works in unused churches. For
more than forty years it has stood alone
in its glory among the hundreds of the
dead gathered around its sacred walls
during the two and half centuries of
its existence, having been abandoned
as a regular place of worship since
1910. But the feeling has ever
been strong here that this old
est Protestant Christian church
should not be given up to bats
and wild animals to go to ruin and to-
day that feeling is voiced in the sharp
ringing of the mason's trowel that
wakes the echoes from the magnificent
grove of oaks, walnuts, sycamores, etc,
that surround it with protective shade,
the busy workmen telling of the long
deferred hope of its restoration about
to have blessed fruition. TO restore it,
however, was a costly undertaking and
far above the parish's ability.
So the rector Of the parish
Newport parish, the Rev. David
Barr, of Smithfield, determined to
make it national and solicit cOntrrbu
tons for the purpose from all parts of
the Union. In pursuance OF this plan,
by personal solicitations, through So
licitations by friends, and through the
Church papers, letters, and circulars,
lie has secured enough money to tho
roughly restore the walls and put a
solid and durable top on both church
and tower.
The money has come i'll sums from
one cent the first contribution to
two hundred dollars; represents nearly
two hundred donors - firms and
churches, sixteen States, and the
District of Columbia-and has been
given by the rich and the
poor, the eminent and the lowly. and
10y Episcopalians (whose particular
church it isl, Methodists, Baptists,
Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, and
Unitarians, Republicans and Demo
Gratis. The balance, of more than
5000, necessary to complete it, must
come in the same kindly way, and, as
it continues so to come, the church can
hardly fail of restoration.
All the windows in the church will
be of fine stained glass lat greatly re-
duced rates of cost and memorial OF
our worthless in Church and State-the
majority of them of the ancient and
principal people of the county and
State. Several will be put in by spe-
cial contributions from the families and
descendants of those worthless, and
several memorial slabs will be put in
the floor over old graves. in the same